The next morning Su Lin woke up bright and early, with a rare smile on her gentle face.
Her line of sight immediately fell on the marriage certificate copy lying on the table in the corner of the room.
It was just a few normal sheets of paper, slightly rustling about in the gentle breeze from the half-opened windows but the contents held untold importance to Su Lin.
Several complex memories crossed her mind, but she quickly looked away, subconsciously hiding, even from the mere thought of it.
After a while, Su Lin stopped staring at the certificate sheets and gently chuckled. Her laugh, for some reason, seemed weird.
It was a laugh seeped in mockery and self-pity.
Was she going to trust someone else again? She smiled with a melancholic expression.
The last time she had trusted someone else completely, it was several decades ago.
The last time she had trusted someone else completely, with the entirety of her heart and her soul, she had paid a price too steep.
"This time it will be different. He is different. Hmmm??"
She murmured to herself and slightly tiled her face, looking up at the spacious ceiling. She commanded the tears which were fighting to come out, to get back in.
Su Lin then took a deep breath and got up from the bed resolutely. It was better to leave the past in the past.
She quickly threw on her work out clothes and stepped out for a light jog around the mansion.
The new place had amazing gym facilities, which Luther's brothers had custom ordered for maintaining their body tone.
Su Lin was excited to try out these modern machines specifically built for strengthening muscles.
After months of regular basic training, she felt that her body was finally ready for further fine-tuning.
She first finished 5 rounds of jogging, which roughly approximated to 5 miles and stepped into the gym hall located next to the guest house.
And of course, literally, everybody in the house except for Runyan, was already present there, each busily exercising in his own funny looking machine.
What else would a bunch of mercenaries do in the morning..?
As soon as he saw Su Lin step into the gym hall, Luther revealed a warm smile, which quickly turned into a loaded smirk.
"Good morning, my dear wife." He chuckled and greeted her with his deep scorching gaze.
Su Lin immediately stumbled and steadied herself. How was she ever going to get used to this endearing term?!
She ignored him and walked over to an empty fancy looking equipment.
It had some instructional stick figures drawn on it. So it was not too hard to figure out how to use it.
She fumbled a bit but eventually settled properly. It was just a simple chest press.
He then slowly approached her and whispered something in her ears, which immediately made Su Lin blush and turned her cheeks bright red.
"Jerk, Asshole. Why don't you work on your freaking man boobs!" Su Lin muttered and cursed under her breath, eyeing the chiseled muscular man walking away from her.
It was actually a sight to behold.
His naked bare upper body, dripping with sweat, was sparkling in the sunlight dancing through the transparent windows.
Gulp.
Su Lin immediately looked away in guilt.
Just yesterday, her fingers had grazed all over that perfect body, contouring every bulging muscle.
And to make matters worse, the six brutes started sparring with each other in the boxing arena sort of set up in the middle of the gym.
Luther's perfect series of dominating combat moves only made him more alluring and enticing.
And Su Lin was going crazy.
What was wrong with her today!!!
It's not like she was seeing him for the first time in her life. This fellow had literally been tailing her for the better part of a year.
So why was she acting so strange and hormonal today? Su Lin bit her lips and got the hell out of there.
A shower should clear my mind...
But alas...
After an hour-long shower and more than a generous amount of time spent on tending to her personal care, Su Lin finally walked downstairs, firm and resolute to get some work done and take her mind off the gutter.
However, the clarity only lasted for a few seconds, as her eyes fell on the still half-naked Luther, dressed in an apron?
Luther was just walking out of the kitchen, holding a pan of delicious smelling scrambled eggs on one hand and some hot crispy bacon strips on the other hand.
Oblivious to the pair of eyes curiously studying him, he smiled gently and chatted happily with his brothers having a wholesome hearty family-style breakfast.
Well... There was also Runyan, who was awkwardly sitting at the table.
"Eat more sister. Eat more." Monkey was busily shoving move eggs onto Runyan's plate.
Now that Su Lin was temporarily taken.
Ahem ahem. He had clearly moved on to greener patches. That too overnight.
Su Lin tiptoed downstairs, meaning to silently slip out, but was immediately caught by Squirrel, sitting faced in her direction.
"Miss Lin. Cough cough. Sister-in-law. Come join us for breakfast." Squirrel almost choked on his food getting the words out.
Su Lin's lips twitched, but she put on a smile and walked staggeringly towards the huge dining table.
She barely sat on the chair, when a certain someone loudly cleared his throat.
"Sup wifey. Look here. I am doing your duties."
Su Lin "...."
"The least you can do is hand feed this injured weak person some food."
Luther put a pitiful expression on his face and shoved a plate into Su Lin's hands.
The table instantly cleared out, each running in a different direction.
Even Runyan politely and hesitantly excused herself, running upstairs to busy herself with the books.
On the surface, they were just giving the 'newlyweds' their private space.
But in reality, nobody wanted to get caught in the crossfire of the fight, which, inevitably, was about to happen.